1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and a method for accessing and downloading information from an online database.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the multitude of Internet service providers (ISPs) available to a user, it is difficult to create an Internet hybrid application (a client/server application that accesses information located on the Internet, or an IP-based computer network) that allows convenient and transparent access to data that is located at an Internet web site through any one of the multitude of ISPs so that data used by the application can be updated or augmented. Previously, this difficulty has been overcome by one of two approaches. First, update data for an application has been hosted at a selected service provider site and has been offered to subscribers of that particular Internet service. The hybrid application using the update data is then designed to interface with only that specific service provider. This approach has the drawback that users of the application are forced to be subscribers of the specific Internet service, thus limiting the number of users for which the application is suitable. The other approach has been to allow an application user to manually retrieve update data off the Internet. This approach has serious drawbacks because there are a number of ways errors can be made when the update data is downloaded, including downloading the data into an incorrect directory and downloading undesired data.
Creating Internet hybrid applications that access the Internet, or any other IP-based computer network, can also be a complex task for an application developer. Since Internet service providers each have a proprietary way of interfacing with their software, there is no standard interface available to deal with multiple Internet service providers. Specific steps are required for connecting to the Internet, disconnecting from the Internet, verifying online status, downloading files, etc.
What is needed is a client/server application interface that allows application programmers to easily create Internet hybrid applications that allow users to use their preferred Internet service provider with a standard application programmer's interface (API) for obtaining a convenient seamless connection to the Internet for communicating with an online site, such as for registering with the online server site and receiving data for augmenting static information provided with the media of the client application with online resources.